That year, we went from Salzburg to Munich. We spent a few hours at Munich and then went to Berlin. And from Berlin, northward to Amsterdam.Our night in Amsterdam was another night out, but after so many journeys and so many crazy backpacking experiences, we'd figured out a few things. We had Eurail passes that we kept gushing about - we could use them.We spent the night on trains. Took a train to Utrecht, then another to Rotterdam, and then one back to Amsterdam. That's how we spent the night. We didn't see tulips or windmills. We did see Rijksmuseum and Anne Frank's house.But honestly, we were exhausted. For a long time, we just sat by a canal and did nothing. We were depressed because we thought we'd lost some money, and we were filled up with all kinds of thoughts and emotions.Fifteen days of glorious backpacking. After Salzburg, I did not write any more; I was too tired. But … [Read more...]
Backpacking through Europe: Vienna
I've already written so much about Vienna. The lady in the train, who warmed our hearts by taking us to the dining car and giving us tickets as if we were doing her a favour. Our crazy attempt to find the Burggarten. The Schmetterling Haus. Mozart and crisp apple strudel.Vienna was much more, though. We found our cheapest youth hostel there, at €15,50. We met dozens of wonderful Austrians; even in the middle of the night, people went out of the way to help us find our hostel. Our first hostel in Vienna gave us the most charming room we had seen thus far. We had a desk, lovely beds, and even an attached bathroom!Vienna welcomed us with 'bad' weather, which we loved. There was an incessant drizzle, which prevented us from taking photographs, but what's a little rain between young backpackers and a beautiful city?Awed by St. Stephen's cathedral (Stephansdom), we stood outside it for a … [Read more...]
After the Burggarten
I wrote, some time ago, about how we hunted for, and eventually found the city garden - https://varshaseshan.com/blog/burggarten-bitte/. In English, somehow, people we spoke to called it the 'Rose Garden' rather than the 'City Garden'. Not unnaturally, we expected to see roses, but we saw none. The garden was truly beautiful, but we saw no roses; did we not look hard enough?We went after that to a place that stands out in my memory as a unique experience - a Schmetterling Haus. We were told it was a kind of greenhouse, and speaking no German at all, we had no idea what 'schmetterling' meant, and no desire to look it up. The people who told us to go have a look at it perhaps lacked the vocabulary to explain what it was too because they told us no more than that. They told us it was a greenhouse that was worth visiting, and that's all we expected. We went inside the greenhouse and had a … [Read more...]
A Train to Vienna
Why do people like us? Why do random people whom we will probably never meet again come up to us and do things for us? I wonder if we look young and innocent and vulnerable - if so, how long will we stay that way?I remember our journey to Vienna from Venice. I have photos to remind me of it, even if I do forget.A lady on the train was immensely curious about us and naturally, about India. We spoke to her for a long time about everything. We told her about our exchange programme, about backpacking in Europe, and about how wonderful our experiences in Italy had been. We told her what we did in India and answered hundreds of questions about Indian culture. All this was normal - people have all kinds of questions all the time. Then, she invited us to eat with her at the dining car of the train. Knowing it would be ridiculously expensive for us, we refused. She insisted, saying that she … [Read more...]
Crisp Apple Strudel
When we went to Salzburg, we knew more about The Sound of Music than about Mozart. Now I'm mildly embarrassed about that, but when we went, I was just plain excited.Everyone wants to talk to young Indian backpackers, and conversation with a co-passenger from Vienna to Salzburg was natural. She told us she lived in Vienna and travelled to Salzburg regularly for work, so we asked her our excited questions: how easy is it to buy apple strudel? Is it a speciality of Salzburg/ Austria? What is schnitzel? Do you eat it with noodles?Vastly amused, she answered our questions before asking us why our questions were so pointed.We told her about the famous song from The Sound of Music, a little surprised that she had not heard of it."Yes, yes," she replied. "I've heard of the movie, I think. But not many people in Austria know it. It's the story of many Austrians during the war." She hinted … [Read more...]
Burggarten, bitte
A lovely lady on the train to Vienna told us we must go see the Burggarten, a rose garden.In our attempt to put to use our practically non-existent German, we greeted an old gentleman on the road and asked him sweetly, "Burggarten, bitte?"He launched into a long speech in German. We listened, nodded appropriately and made polite noises. Once he had finished explaining, we said our 'Danke' and followed him across the road. That much, we had understood.We stood around noting various 'interesting' things around, letting him go ahead. We then discreetly asked someone else.To this day, we wonder what the gentleman explained to us in such great detail. The rose garden was straight ahead. … [Read more...]